The Official Cambridge Applicants for 2024 Entry Thread

Hey!! I haven’t actually decided if I want to apply to Cambridge or Oxford yet (I know) but I thought I would take you up on asking for help because it’s very kind of you to offer. I’m international, and my school doesn’t know how to do UK applications let alone Oxbridge so I’m very much trying to do this on my own.

Some questions:
1) How much ‘wider reading’ is desired? I really enjoy reading deeper about my passions but I’m worried I haven’t done enough to be considered a competitive applicant
2) I know grades are one of the main features of someone’s application, but is it virtually the only feature? Or are there other things one can do that may make them a more viable candidate?
3) With written work (this seems quite daunting) are most people sending in near perfect essays/perfect? I don’t think my written work is bad, but i’ve never been given a 100% for the relevant subjects so I’m worried I wouldn’t look very good.
4) How important was college choice for you? This is something that is stressing me out quite a lot. Especially with the discussion of different tier systems which seems a bit complex for an outsider.

Sorry this is so long! It wasn’t intended to be

Are you doing A levels now or did you apply with grades in bag?

All of this has been incredibly helpful, so thank you very much. It's quite a relief to know that I'm not behind. I had it in my head that most other students would have their personal statements done by now and I would have to race to catch up.

RE point 3, on the essays: That's extremely reassuring to know! I think I will have a much easier time finding an essay that best showcases my ability and capacity to learn as opposed to one that is necessarily perfect. Especially considering my history teacher never gives full marks for introductions or conclusions on principle. Unfortunately, my best essay in literature was a take-home project and is far too long to send in. Would it be wiser to send in an extract from this essay, or to use one from class that may not be as good? I don't know if you'll be able to answer this, but I was considering applying for a joint degree with languages (History + French), however, in my curriculum, I've never had to write an essay in French. Would I be at an advantage to submit my 150-200 word response to a prompt that we write when we do assessments? My main concern is that other applicants would be at essay writing level, making me not competitive.

RE point 4, on the colleges: The blog @askacambridgestudent on Tumblr has a lot of information about a 'tier system' at Cambridge, which is where I have gathered this knowledge from. In a nutshell, they say that there are colleges more people apply to and that people get pooled from, colleges that people usually get pulled to, and then ones in the middle. As I don't actually go to Cambridge this could be a gross generalization or misunderstanding on my part. I, however, will definitely continue doing my own research!

Parents, your thread is here -> https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/sho....php?t=7212699

It never hurts to get ahead of the game when thinking about the future, and in particular - Cambridge Applications!
REMEMBER THOUGH: Cambridge isn't the be-all and end-all of things but being aspirational doesn't hurt!

Here are a few suggested opening questions, but ask whatever you want regarding Cambridge.

1) What A Levels are you taking from September (or other eligible qualifications)?
2) What course at Cambridge do you have your eyes on? And why?
3) What grades did you get/are you predicted to get at GCSE?
4) Why Cambridge specifically? and why not Oxford?
5) Which admissions tests do you have to sit, and when will you start preparing for them?
6) What have you done in lockdown to help your studies and potentially your application to Cambridge?
7) What do you want to do with your degree from Cambridge?
8) Have you decided which college you're applying to?

1) History, Politics, Physics
2) HSPS. A much better course than the History and Politics I originally applied to, not to mention a greater emphasis on the Political Sciences and theory which I am so much more interested in.
3) Six 9s, three 8s and one 7.
4) I love the heterogeneous architecture of Cambridge, especially considering it has different stones. That's all. Although I am still considering whether to apply to Oxford for it's PPE course.
5) As far as I know, there are no admissions tests for HSPS.
6) Read many books, subscribed to both reactionary and progressive blogs, started my own Medium for essay writing, talked at a school politics podcast, established Law & Politics Society when I was in school, competed with my team at an Oxford Schools Debating Finals, attended countless Model UN Politics debates, shadowed my local MP, and went to a heritage site work experience to explore social anthropology and social history.
7) Honestly want to go full in with academic research and write books on political theory and contemporary interpretations of past books.
8) Possibly St Johns or Girton. Hit or miss realistically, but since I'm on a gap year I should have the chance to visit Cambridge outside of the open days.

hi there. I am going into Year 13 at a private boys' school in Greater London and aiming for general engineering (Queens or Emanuel College). I am taking Maths, Physics and Chemistry and am enrolled on an online summer school and have completed virtual work experience in engineering. I have dyspraxia and visual processing issues (similar to dyslexia) which allows me to use a laptop at school - I also have a pre-assessment report stating that I have inattentive ADHD and Aspergers (but this is not supported by the school as my grades are not bad enough). I have predicted grades of A (Maths), A*(Physics) A* (Chemistry) but am going to resit Maths after the summer holidays to improve my grade. I am also now preparing for the ENGAA . I have three questions: (1) do I have a chance of getting through to the interview stage if I only get A (Maths), A* (Physics and Chemistry)- I chose not to do Further Maths ; (2) when should I disclose the details of my learning issues (dyspraxia etc) ; and (3) will my learning issues count against me?

1. Biology, chemistry, physics, maths + EPQ
2. Natural sciences - want to be able to continue both chemistry + bio without sacrificing either one
3. 10 9's and 1 8
4. The course, if I went oxford chem I would have to give up doing a lot of bio. Also just the city itself, and I prefer the university and colleges
5. NSAA, gonna start preparing in summer
6. Building an engineering project ive been working on that has relations to biology/chemistry, doing a 4 week research project up at cambridge this summer, done a week of lab work at another university. Done other competitions like the chem and bio olympiad, and Cambridge chemistry challenge that just happened. Lots of extra reading
7. Either go into pharmacology, or go into lecturing
8 Trinity hall or trinity college

1) (Further) Maths, Economics, Physics
2) Economics - I've heard it's pretty much applied math, which is what I want (I like math more than economics).
3) (IGCSE) 7xA*s 1x9 1xA 1x6 (in art)
4) More math-based and better chance of getting in
5) TMUA, been slightly preparing here and there but will pick up prep in August
6) Research projects with gov agencies in Africa/India, Reading, Essay competitions (Need to start these but upcoming), work experience,
7) Career in Finance
8) Most likely Jesus College (uncle went there)

1) Yes you will have a chance of getting through to interview stage with "just" A in Maths, plus A* in the others, but you need to look at the grade requirements for each college. I believe Emanuel is one of the few that specifies A* for maths, so you probably want to avoid that.

2) I believe the additional Cambridge questionnaire will ask about learning difficulties, so you can disclose them there, but @Pembroke Rep would be best placed to confirm.

3) No.

Parents, you are free to comment on this thread to provide words of encouragement to the applicants, but you also have your own thread for parental debates -> https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/sho....php?t=7212699

It never hurts to get ahead of the game when thinking about the future, and in particular - Cambridge Applications!
REMEMBER THOUGH: Cambridge isn't the be-all and end-all of things but being aspirational doesn't hurt!

Here are a few suggested opening questions, but ask whatever you want regarding Cambridge.

1) What A Levels are you taking from September (or other eligible qualifications)?
2) What course at Cambridge do you have your eyes on? And why?
3) What grades did you get/are you predicted to get at GCSE?
4) Why Cambridge specifically? and why not Oxford?
5) Which admissions tests do you have to sit, and when will you start preparing for them?
6) What have you done in lockdown to help your studies and potentially your application to Cambridge?
7) What do you want to do with your degree from Cambridge?
8) Have you decided which college you're applying to?

Parents, you are free to comment on this thread to provide words of encouragement to the applicants, but you also have your own thread for parental debates -> https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/sho....php?t=7212699

It never hurts to get ahead of the game when thinking about the future, and in particular - Cambridge Applications!
REMEMBER THOUGH: Cambridge isn't the be-all and end-all of things but being aspirational doesn't hurt!

Here are a few suggested opening questions, but ask whatever you want regarding Cambridge.

1) What A Levels are you taking from September (or other eligible qualifications)?
2) What course at Cambridge do you have your eyes on? And why?
3) What grades did you get/are you predicted to get at GCSE?
4) Why Cambridge specifically? and why not Oxford?
5) Which admissions tests do you have to sit, and when will you start preparing for them?
6) What have you done in lockdown to help your studies and potentially your application to Cambridge?
7) What do you want to do with your degree from Cambridge?
8) Have you decided which college you're applying to?

Good luck everyone! As an applicant from last year I have some things to share that I wish I had read last year.
- most importantly, I hope your applications are successful but it’s very important to not put Cambridge on a pedestal, and that many top unis share lots of features with Oxbridge (eg, well-funded, being taught by world-leading experts). TSR is helpful but also a bit notorious for being obsessed with Oxbridge and honestly try to not be affected by that.

Regarding your applications..
- for humanities especially, just read as thoughtfully and as much as you can because reading as much as you can about your subject will only help. Eg, I knew loads of Oxbridge history applicants who all got interviews but the only one who got in was the one who had read like 30+ books. People say that ‘oh you’ll be fine if you only read 2 in-depth’ but at the end of the day, Oxbridge courses are incredibly oversubscribed with the vast majority having As/A*s so what you are actually interested in academically (and how genuine and deep that interest is) in combination with your critical thinking skills&admissions test (if applicable) is the differentiating factor
- the college you apply to DOES matter. Yes, there is the winter pool system to counter this but at the end of the day, it’s logical that you have a much better chance when the college you apply to only has 20 applicants for 5 places as opposed to 65 applicants for 5-6 places.

I don’t want this to scare anyone or anything, and I was actually rejected for HSPS post-interview so these observations may not be entirely helpful, but I just thought it was valuable to share this other perspective

Regarding your applications..
- for humanities especially, just read as thoughtfully and as much as you can because reading as much as you can about your subject will only help. Eg, I knew loads of Oxbridge history applicants who all got interviews but the only one who got in was the one who had read like 30+ books. People say that ‘oh you’ll be fine if you only read 2 in-depth’ but at the end of the day, Oxbridge courses are incredibly oversubscribed with the vast majority having As/A*s so what you are actually interested in academically (and how genuine and deep that interest is) in combination with your critical thinking skills&admissions test (if applicable) is the differentiating factor

I think the two books in depth thing is more for the personal statement.As in put down a couple of books you have something interesting to say something about.My son had read Biology related material from the age of about 6 onwards so obviously had a great depth of knowledge which developed over many years.No one would suggest people read 30 books over the summer holidays!But if you have a genuine interest in a subject the more you have read outside the curriculum the better obviously.There are some reasons to be careful of which college you choose.Do read into the small print.More of an issue at Cambridge than Oxford.